President Ilham Aliyev pardons 176 prisoners over 65 due to COVID-19

President Ilham Aliyev has signed a decree to pardon 176 prisoners aged over 65, the official website of the president reported on April 6.

The decision to pardon the prisoners was passed considering the appeals from inmates over the age of 65, who are in need of special care and from their families in connection with the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) infection in the world, and taking into account the health condition of convicts and their behavior during their imprisonment, the report said.

Among the pardoned inmates is major general former head of the Main Department of Energy and Transport Security under the now-defunct National Security Ministry Akif Chovdarov, former head of the Ministry, general Subahir Gurbanov.

Both were imprisoned in 2015, on corruption charges.

As local media reported, the majority of those pardoned are prisoners at greater risk of coronavirus. Most of them suffer from many chronic diseases and are under regular medical supervision.

It should be noted that under the legislative acts signed by the president, 4,871 people have been pardoned so far. The amnesty acts adopted on the initiative of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and First Vice President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mehriban Aliyeva covered 40,412 people and 8,580 of them were released from imprisonment.